Earlier this year, Kate Barrington McGregor ’14 became the youngest alumnus to fund an unrestricted endowment at the Law School by creating the Barrington McGregor Unrestricted Endowment together with her husband, Cody McGregor, and the Barrington Family Foundation.

McGregor joined Bracewell following graduation, where she advises and represents clients on mergers and acquisitions and joint venture transactions in the energy and infrastructure sectors.  The couple lives in Houston with their children, Lee and Evans. 

McGregor considers relationships formed at the Law School among those that mean the most to her. “I am lucky to have maintained close relationships with many of my classmates, including one particularly close group of women from my class,” she said.

“In addition to the friendships I enjoy with these alumnae, it has been incredibly rewarding to watch everyone’s careers unfold from clerks to associates, to federal prosecutors, to in-house attorneys, to the White House counsel’s office—and this group of women is just getting started.”

After attending the College of Arts and Sciences as an undergraduate and working at the New York office of White & Case for two years, McGregor returned to Charlottesville for law school. Outside of classes, she served as honor counsel to the Honor Committee, a Peer Advisor, and a research assistant to Professor Gregory Mitchell.

Enlisted by classmate Simon Cataldo, she has also served as a former executive board member and current advisory board member of Harlem Lacrosse, a school-based nonprofit that provides academic support, mentoring, leadership training, admissions counseling, and character-building athletic instruction to students in Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, and Philadelphia. 

“While we were 1Ls Simon recruited me to get involved in what was then a fledgling, one-school organization. Since then, we have had the privilege to watch it grow into a sophisticated program with a profound, measurable impact in 18 schools, serving approximately 1,200 students. I know in the not-too-distant future, we are going to see a Harlem Lacrosse alum at the Law School. Our hope is that our unrestricted giving will help support a place where that student—any student—can thrive.”

In addition to the personal friendships she forged, McGregor recognizes that the Law School’s alumni network has been a valuable professional resource. “I’m one of several Virginia Law graduates at Bracewell. In fact, Kate Day ’97 was the hiring partner who conducted my initial on-Grounds interview in 2012 and has been a mentor for me ever since. While many of us aren’t from Houston, the UVA network is strong and helped make a new city quickly feel like home.”

“I am thrilled that Kate’s gift coincides with the hundredth anniversary of the graduation of the first female graduate of the Law School,” Dean Risa Goluboff said. “Just as Elizabeth Tompkins led the way in 1923, Kate McGregor leads a new generation of alumnae philanthropists today. We are so grateful to Kate, Cody, and the Barrington Family Foundation for their commitment to the Law School.”

“I’m extraordinarily fortunate to have parents who instilled in my older brother and me the importance of education,” McGregor said. “The opportunity to attend UVA and then the Law School was the culmination of my parents’ hard work and commitment to give me every educational opportunity available.

“One of the ways I feel I can honor what was given to me is to be a part of an effort that affords opportunities to current and future Law Hoos,” she said.

Founded in 1819, the University of Virginia School of Law is the second-oldest continuously operating law school in the nation. Consistently ranked among the top law schools, Virginia is a world-renowned training ground for distinguished lawyers and public servants, instilling in them a commitment to leadership, integrity and community service.

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